usual

• uzhe, uzh, yoozh (slang, no fixed spelling)

From Middle English usual, from Old French usuel, from Latin ūsuālis (“for use, fit for use, also of common use, customary, common, ordinary, usual”), from ūsus (“use, habit, custom”), from the past participle stem of ūtī (“to use”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃eyt- (“to take along, fetch”). Displaced native Old English ġewunelīċ.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈjuː.ʒʊəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈju.ʒuəl/, /ˈju.ʒ(w)əl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: u‧su‧al

usual (comparative more usual, superlative most usual)

1. Most commonly occurring; typical.

   Synonyms: ordinary, plain, regular, simple, standard, typical, wonted; see also Thesaurus:common, Thesaurus:normal

   Antonyms: abnormal, atypical, unusual

   The preference of a boy to a girl is a usual occurrence in some parts of China.

   It is becoming more usual these days to rear children as bilingual.

   We saw as many as usual.

   • 1625, [Samuel] Purchas, “A Diſcourſe of the Kingdome of China”, in Purchas His Pilgrimes. […], 3rd part, London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, § V, page 380:

     And ſince this Family, called Ciu, which now holdeth the Souereigntie, hath reigned, it is called Min [translating 明 (Míng)], which intimateth Splendour, and by vſuall addition of one ſyllable Ta-min [translating 大明 (Dàmíng)], that is, the Kingdome of Great Splendour, Brightneſſe or Glory.

• usuality

usual (countable and uncountable, plural usuals)

1. (uncountable) The typical state of something, or something that is typical.
2. (countable, colloquial) A specific good or service (e.g. a drink) that someone typically orders.

   I'll just have the usual.

   Two usuals, please.

Sometimes colloquially shortened to the first syllable (IPA^(key): /juːʒ/), an overwhelmingly spoken-only slang word with no single widely accepted spelling (see uzhe).

• “usual”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “usual”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• luaus, lūʻaus

From Latin ūsuālis.

• IPA^(key): /uˈswal/ [uˈswal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: u‧sual

usual (epicene, plural usuales)

1. common, typical, usual

Borrowed from Latin ūsuālis.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [u.zuˈal]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: u‧su‧al

usual m or f (masculine and feminine plural usuals)

1. usual

   Antonym: inusual

• inusual
• usualment

• “usual”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “usual”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “usual” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “usual”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Learned borrowing from Latin ūsuālis.

• IPA^(key): /usuˈal/ [u.s̺uˈɑɫ]
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: u‧su‧al

usual m or f (plural usuais)

1. usual, regular, normal

• usualmente

• “usual”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• “usual”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026

• usuel, usualle, usuale, usuell, usuall

Borrowed from Middle French usuel and its etymon Latin ūsuālis. First attested in the 1380s.

• IPA^(key): /ˌiu̯ziu̯ˈal/, /ˈiu̯ziu̯al/ (from Latin ūsuālis)
• IPA^(key): /ˌiu̯ziu̯ˈɛːl/, /ˈiu̯ziu̯ɛl/ (from Middle French usuel)

usual

1. customary, established
2. usual, normal, regular

• English: usual
• Scots: usual, uswal, eeswal

• “ūsuā̆l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 8 April 2018.

• üsual

• IPA^(key): /yˈzɥal/

usual

1. usual

Learned borrowing from Latin ūsuālis. By surface analysis, uso +‎ -ual.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: u‧su‧al

usual m or f (plural usuais)

1. usual (most commonly occurring)

   Antonym: inusual

• “usual”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “usual”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from Latin ūsuālis.

• IPA^(key): /uˈswal/ [uˈswal]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: u‧sual

usual m or f (masculine and feminine plural usuales)

1. usual

   Antonym: inusual

• “usual”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025